Havoc6538

This pic was before I added more dirt for SWAT, but you can see in the main pics how they look now.

Name: SImon English Legion ID: 6538 Forum name: Havoc6538 Garrison: UK Trooper emulated: Docking Bay 94 Sgt. v1 Reference material for this trooper is limited, so I've included a couple of comparison pics at the end. Hopefully I've got all the bases covered, if there are any details you need pics of, let me know. So...(deep breath)...here goes nothing: Member must currently be deployed as an MEPD Police Officer to be considered. - yes Weathering must be appropriate to screen used armor. Too little or too much weathering will not be allowed. - yes Pack, pauldron, and weapon combinations must match a specific trooper a seen on screen. - yes

Aaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh!!! It turns out that the aerosol propellant in Humbrol acrylic varnish reacts with Humbrol enamel paint. My lovely bakelite stock will need to be rubbed back to nothing and I'll have to start from scratch. Grrrrrr.

I'm impatient and didn't want to have to wait a week for delivery, but I got one today, just applying the 2nd coat now

Yup, just seems like a lot of local model shops have closed down, and the ones that are still there don't have that colour. On a separate note, I clear-coated the front half and killed it. Looked too glossy and increased the contrast on the dry brushing, made it look really fake and showed the brush marks I'd worked so hard to avoid. I've repainted the front half again, will leave it as it is this time.

Thanks Juan, I got cleared a couple of weeks back, just after these pics were taken. I've weathered the pack now, too, for MEPD officer status.

Nice pack Daz. Great work.

I've gone over my blaster, tidying it up a little (getting rid of some of the casting bubbles, sanding scratches etc) resprayed it matt balck and have done the first pass of gun-metal and it's looking good, even if I say so myself. I'm having trouble getting hold of the right colour for the stock though, but there's no hurry. If it's worth doing (and it is), it's worth doing well. I'll post up a separate thread tomorrow.

Do you use a gloss clear coat or satin?

And TM, apart from making the standard size legs, also make a longer version, in case you need them like I did. I bought FX armour from someone in my garrison as it was cheap, but the legs were way too short (and the thighs were enormous). I'm 6'2", so I ended up buying a set of TMs longer legs. So pleased I did, they fit perfectly.

I drilled the port out using a 15mm forstner bit. I only went about 6 or 7mm deep, maybe I should have gone deeper, in hindsight. Then i cleaned up the edges with a really sharp chisel, a shaving at a time.

My ammo box is pretty much identical to Ruggero's (thanks for the inspiration and the templates! Top job!) but I made the other side all in one piece, starting off with the template but adapting it as I went from reference pics. Still work in progress at the moment. Should look ok once it's all painted up. I'm going to give the whole blaster a new paint job, as it currently looks too obviously drybrushed. Rather than trying to bend the plastic, I glued pieces together then sanded the corners over. this avoided warping the plastic I'd already shaped. The only bit I heated and bent is that little plate on the ejector port. Once I've fitted the mod permanently, I'll drill a couple of holes through the plate and glue in a couple of round headed nails to simulate the rivets used to fix it. Hopefully it'll look a bit like this:

I'll take some pics in the morning. I used Ruggero's templates as a guide, but did the right hand side a little differently based on reference photos. Only primed at the moment, but looking better than I expected.

Had the same problem in last couple of weeks on my HTC Desire. Now upgraded to HTC 8x Windows phone and works fine.

Hey, Ruggero. Yes, that was me. I adjusted the fit of my lid for that troop and really need to fit a longer cowl on that. Seeing your armour really spurred me on to finish my own.

Nice ESB Vader, Kingpin. You've even got the correct panelling on the front of the undersuit! That's a detail you don't often see. Rico, love your shocktrooper, and your patch collection is amazing! You must need a whole room just for that.

I'm in luck, I've got all of those paints. Is there a link to the tutorial? I can ony find his T-21 build, which is awesome, but misses his paint technique. Your blasters always look so good, I have to give this ago with my DLT-19 as I'm in the middle of modding it now.

Thought I'd give you guys (and myself) the chance to show off any other costumes you have. In 2005, I joined the Legion as a TIE pilot. I always wanted to do either a Sandtrooper, or Boba Fett. I'm too tall for Boba fett, and I couldn't afford a sandtrooper, so TIE was a nice, cheapish introduction to trooping. Due to my height, everyone kept telling me I should do Vader, so in 2007 I did. I was lucky enough to get some professional studio pics taken of these two costumes, along with 2 other local troopers and friends. My TIE pilot: My Vader (I made the chest box, belt boxes and re-sculpted the helmet from a terrible, warped cast of what was possibly a Rubies Deluxe, it was hard to tell): At a Kent Air Ambulance fundraiser: My snowtrooper, with the boss, General Veers AKA Julian Glover: Shame half of this pic is blurred, but it's one of the few decent full-length shots of my snowy: I only did the snowtrooper as a friend of mine was getting rid of some awful fibre-glass armour, so I got it cheap, did some reshaping and re-sculpting, bought a new lid and voila! It was as near to a sandtrooper as I could afford at the time. And finally my sandtrooper. I retired and sold my TIE pilot to fund a lot of this, but I don't regret it for a second: This was one of my two dream costumes, finally done and I couldn't be more happy with it (except maybe once I've added a little more dirt!) So it's your turn. What costumes have you had, what are you trooping in now?

Yes Daniel, you're exactly right. I'm 6'2" and the FX legs were nowhere near long enough for me, but I found out that as well as the standard length, TM also makes longer leg armour for the taller trooper. Not cheap, but well worth the extra cost.

Yep. And it feels gooooooood.

Woohoo! Thanks guys. This means a lot to me. Need to get out and troop in it now.

I'd like to add to this. In 2005 I joined the 501st as a TIE pilot, becoming a member of Jolly roger Squadron, the TIE detachment. At the time it was a rarely visited Yahoo newsgroup. In 2009 I was asked to be the XO of a revitalised JRS under the leadership of Jim "Old targ" De Jan and we took it from a tired old newsgroup to a busy "community feel" forum and info website. I stepped down as XO in 2011, mainly as Vader had taken over my trooping life and I didn't have the time to devote to the detachment anymore. I've since sold my TIE costume to fund my sandy build. In the mean-time, I was also a member of the Sith Lord Detachment and Blizzard Force, but both felt a little cold, if you'll pardon the pun. Great as a source of reference material, but not much more. Being a member of MEPD is like coming home. This forum has the family feel that JRS built up, and I've missed that. My deployment request is being assessed as I type, but I'm looking forward to trooping with some of you guys soon. You've made it a pleasure to be here.

What paints do you use for this Dave?

Ok, the host is back up and running, so we're back in business. Belt: Blaster before: Blaster now: